On December 24, 1492 Christopher Columbus’ flag ship, the Santa Maria hit a reef off of Haiti’s northern coast and sank the next day. It has remained there since that day. On May 24 of this year, American underwater explore Bill Clifford said that he had found the ship.

Clifford’s team, and others, have been visiting the site since 2003. A cannon they identified at the time, believed to date from the 15th century, has since disappeared. That is where UNESCO, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, comes in.

In 2001 UNESCO adopted the “Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage” aims for the protection of  “all traces of human existence having a cultural, historical or archaeological character” which have been underwater for 100 years or more. 

On June 12 of this year Haitian Culture Minister Monique Rocourt wrote to UNESCO to ask for the support of the agencies Scientific and Technical Advisory Body to help verify and protect the Santa Maria site which is located off the town of Cap-Haïtien. That assistance is now on it’s way.

“We stand by the authorities in fighting illicit trafficking in underwater cultural heritage objects and urge States to join Haiti’s efforts to find artefacts stolen from these underwater archaeological sites, notably the one that will visited by UNESCO’s mission,” said Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, in a statement.

Bokova has previously expressed concern about the looting of potential heritage sites off the coast of Haiti.

The Underwater Heritage Convention currently has 48 signatory countries, including Haiti.